Our quarterly briefing paper (pdf, 397kb) examines how the economic downturn affected the Rural Regeneration Zone. The zone covers large parts of Herefordshire and Shropshire, as well as wards within Wyre Forest and Malvern Hills in Worcestershire.
We cover issues such as unemployment, benefit claiming, redundancies, the economy and skills.
The final briefing was published in January 2010.
Annual monitoring report
The 2009/10 edition of our Rural Regeneration Zone monitoring report (pdf, 3.06mb) looks at how the economic climate has changed over 2009.
This fourth annual report, published 16th June 2010, monitors progress towards the strategic aims of the Rural Regeneration Zone's implementation plan for 2009–2012.
Key headlines
The Rural Regeneration Zone has avoided the worst effects of the recession and the recession has ended. Most recession monitoring indicators are starting to show signs of improvement. For example, redundancy rates have dropped.
However, benefit claiming remains high. Our interactive map shows the proportion of the working age population in the Rural Regeneration Zone claiming Jobseeker's Allowance (we stopped updating this map in January 2010).
Benefit claiming in January 2010 increased from December 2009 and is much higher than a year ago. Despite this, benefit claimant rates are generally lower in the Rural Regeneration Zone than the West Midlands or England.